USCF Executive Board Election

FL, I can't find Hanken's thread in the USCF Issues forums. Did the moderators delete it?

Right on, Jerry. I would say that clears the Polgar issue up for me. And yet, through it all, everyone agrees upon one thing: Sam Sloan should not be allowed on the Board.

Assuming that Polgar and Truong get elected, do you think the other candidates will have grounds for claiming that the vote was unfair due to the non-disclosure of their marriage? If they had announced it before the campaign to be elected to the USCF board then there may not have been a problem, but the fact that they kept it secret just isn't right.

It still isn't clear when they got married, though a recent entry to Polgar's blog says "First of all, the media in Lubbock, Texas announced my marriage a few months ago when I was there to discuss with Texas Tech officials about SPICE."

Her blog entry entitled "Election discussion" is an absolute disgrace. It has a complete character assassination on Sloan and Lux and then she has the cheek to say "Please feel free to discuss the pros and cons of each candidate. Please stick to the facts and no personal attacks."

I agree that Sam Sloan doesn't belong on the USCF board. I have to admit that I like the guy - I wouldn't let him babysit my daughter, but he's a character. He loves chess and is willing to play anyone. You have to have admire the man who taught Mike Basman how to play the Grob!

Unfortunately Sam's views on women and sex are highly objectionable and he doesn't seem to have the sense to keep them to himself. I mean, what can you make of the pokemon porn on his website? Let alone the stories of how he paid 8 cents to touch a girl up in Thailand.

Sam is a good person to have around, hopefully he will keep the members of the board a little more honest than they would be without him, but you can't have someone who wears his perversions on his sleeve on the board.

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know the legalities of what Susan and Paul did. But my guess is that Susan and Paul did nothing illegal. However, I do think failing to disclose their marriage for so long was definitely unethical, and at the very least showed a horrendous lack of good judgment. (By the way, I'm only talking about the disclosure part of it. As far as the actual marriage, that's great news, and I wish them both best wishes and a long, happy marriage.)

My guess is that both Susan and Paul still easily win EB seats, despite this latest flap. I still hope that they will be a force for good for the USCF, but knowing what I know now, I won't be surprised if the bickering and backstabbing continue even if all 4 of the Polgar candidates win.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
It still isn't clear when they got married

Polgar has done so much to promote chess in the USA, so she gets my vote. It would be a good enough reason to clean USCF house and vote for a random anybody , but here we have a notable chess ambassador to elect.

"I believe that I'm correct when I say that Truong is not Susan's husband. They are not married, and as far as I know, their relationship is only a business relationship. Where on earth did you get the idea that they're married?"

Great! Then I've still got a chance!

Oh wait. I'm married. Oh well.

Anyone in the USA following the latest USCF scandal? My guess is that Paul Truong gets kicked off the board by the end of the month and Polgar dumps him as a husband and business partner soon after.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
Anyone in the USA following the latest USCF scandal? My guess is that Paul Truong gets kicked off the board by the end of the month and Polgar dumps him as a husband and business partner soon after.

There's some really interesting stuff on Mig's "The Daily Dirt":
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2007/10/slime_spillover.htm

I agree that it is all very depressing. I know so many honest, intelligent people and so few thoroughly disreputable ones - how come it's only the latter who become involved in politics?